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E – Eragon, Christopher Paolini

Loved: For me, the coolest thing about this book wasn’t necessarily the story itself, but how it came about. I loved that someone my age could write a fresh twist on the stereotypical quest epic and make it work.Learned: In a weird way, this book really brought home the fact that someone had written the story. Someone with a notebook or a computer, and a headful of ideas, just like me. Not those amazingly cool authors of my youth, who were seemingly unmatched in their story-telling prowess (at least in my fan-oriented mind). When Eragon came out, I had about a third of my first WIP done and had been working on it haphazardly in my free time.

This book was the fire that said, “Holy cow, if this kid can do it, so can I? What the heck am I waiting for? He’s my age, I can’t let him *gasp* beat me!”

Unfortunately, I don't think Christopher Paolini was out of the phase all writers go through when they haven't yet found their voice and so are always half plagiarizing their favorite works when he wrote Eragon. Perhaps I noticed it because I recognized my teenage writings (safely ripped to pieces now) in Eragon, stuff where nothing was original and most of the names were stolen from my favorite books.

But at least Eragon proved one thing. Audiences still have an insatiable thirst for epic fantasy even when it's paltry stuff, no matter what any critics say.

I have to admit I'm in the "amazing publication success story, but weak writing" group of thought as to Eragon. I wish other writers nothing but success and applaud the fact that someone so young wrote the book and had such a huge hit, but I also never read more than the first chapter in the book store before deciding it wasn't for me. Sorry...

But amazing blog and awesome A-to-Z theme! (And I also commented on "D" so I could leave a positive comment on a book, LOL!)

Ha! I felt the same way about Paolini's success. I loved Eragon, must have read it several times, but I despised Eldest and so it kind of ruined it for me. I read Brisingr which wasn't bad, but because I'm still so leery about Eldest I still haven't picked up the last book. Even though my husband assures me it's good. :)

Eragon was awesome! Christopher Paolini is a fantastic writer. He was homeschooled. I agree that he had a fresh twist on an old idea and his parents actually published it first. I love how he came up with Eragon's name too. Nice post! :-)

I...am not one who finishes books that just don't...enthrall me. While I felt Eragon was really awesome. And I was even more amazed that a kid wrote it, self-published, toured w/ family and was picked up by a publisher, I just couldn't get through the book. Parts of it were like "Oh, this is like LotR" and then...Idk. I just didn't do it. But many of my friends did!! Awesome that you finished your book so quickly and that Eragon inspired you!!

I am the same way about this book. I was fairly young when it came out but since then it has just amazed me that someone could write something like it so young. I'm 19 now and bound and determined to finish my draft by the end of the summer.I will admit that the book has impressed me less in my recent re-reads than it did when I was younger. The dialogue seems a bit forced to me and he has a tendency of throwing background information in just to have it, without it really fitting with whats around it. Still a great story though.Stopping in to say hello from A-to-Z:)--KatieThe Fiction Diaries

My uncle handed me this book when I was 15 or 16 and told me that if I was interested in writing then I should read it because it was written by the author when he was 15. I think it was more to draw inspiration from. It took me awhile to get warmed up to the story but after the first 75 pages or so the ball started rolling and it got really good. Regrettably, I haven't read the other two books. I'm glad to see that you were able to draw some inspiration from it too. :)